It's Gonna be a Violent One
by madcorvus
Summary: Daryl needs more this time around. A scarf isn't gonna be enough of her for him. "Hounded" just got a little bit Daryl-ified.


There weren't no body. And Daryl didn't care if he had to pull a Rick and dissect every last damn walker inside this hellhole, he wasn't going to let a scarf be enough of her for him. And she fuckin' deserved better. She was dead and he'd be fine with that eventually. He always was. But he couldn't be fine with leaving her to rot in some ugly bastard's gut. There was a line dammit and some sorry asshole had just crossed it and a Dixon's rage was the only way to set it right.

When he came back with Maggie on that desperate run for baby formula the three graves had already been dug out and filled in. He didn't know what his expression must have been when they told him Carol's grave was empty but it must have been impressive enough to make Hershel shudder and lead his girls away. He'd known that they hadn't found Carol's body before he'd left. At the time a body wasn't really necessary to confirm what they all had been thinking. But now, now that the baby was taken care of and there was a spare moment to be had, Daryl just couldn't leave it like that. He needed more than that this time around.

So he went out hunting, hunting for every last sign of her. Started where they found what was left of T-Dog because that was the last anyone ever saw of her. It was also where they found that damn scarf and he took it out and glared at it like it had all the answers. It didn't and he snarled because nobody was around to hear it.

He stalked hallway after hallway but all he ended up finding was that convict with Glenn and Carl. They were out killing stragglers probably hoping that the more they killed the less likely it was for Rick to die too. Their leader still wasn't thinking all that straight and even Daryl's vengeance stepped aside a little to make room for that endeavor. But first he glared Glenn into retreating back to their cellblock. _Someone_ had to watch out for what was left of their group. And he was busy.

The deeper they went into the abandoned prison the more Daryl lost his nerve. He hadn't found a single trace of her yet. No more clothes and definitely not a mess of blood that would stain the hallway like a scar the way T-Dog had.

That only meant one thing to him. She had made it a long way and he just hadn't went far enough to find her yet. And that meant that she had survived that long. She had been this deep still running for her life maybe even hoping, _prayin' _that someone was on their way.

The deeper he went the more fucking angry he became. Every corner and hallway was one more that Carol could have fled down. And when he found her he would be able to calculate with damn good accuracy just how far she had made it. And how even that hadn't been enough.

They found her knife some hallways later. Daryl knew the end was coming. The hunt was ending.

And when the three of them came across that door with something trying to push its way out he brushed it off. He made some sorry excuse to come back for it later but he knew better. He was afraid of what he would find behind that door. And he just wasn't ready to open it. 'Cause if it was Carol in there all dead-eyed and pale he didn't know if he had it in him, not yet at least and definitely not in front of Carl. The boy didn't need to see nothing else so soon and not if Daryl was around to prevent it.

He pushed forward a little while longer even as his mind went back and settled on that door. When they didn't come across another walker in ages Daryl knew that his time was up. He sent the two on their way with only a brief nod when Carl asked if he was coming back soon.

The door was just as he left it. A downed walker blocked it from opening completely but something in there was pushing to get out. He only stood in front of that door for a moment before he jumped back and sank to the ground.

Carol was in there. Everything in him was telling him so. She had lost her knife no more than three hallways up and this is where she ended up. Right here.

At the start of this mad hunt he had more or less been demanding a body. He wasn't going to settle for anything less. But Jesus he had never even thought that he might find her like _this. _

Before, she had been dead.

Now, she was worse than that.

This was worse.

Carol died alone down here. And because the world was so fucked up, she came back as one of them. Walkers that can turn a beautiful little girl into a mama's nightmare.

And Carol may have never said it out loud but Daryl knew that she would have never ever wanted to end up this way. Not after her Sophia.

Pissed at just about anyone and anything, Daryl leapt up to his feet. He was gonna end this injustice with a blade to the head and he wasn't gonna hesitate or pussy out. He'd done enough wrong by Carol. And his last encounter with her was going to be a violent one but for the first time in her life it was actually gonna be the right way to go about it.

Now he just had to open that goddamn door.


End file.
